


Working On It

by Trish_bish_wish



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Action, Batfamily (DCU), F/F, F/M, Gotham City - Freeform, Minor Character(s), lots of feels, slow burning the shit out of harpercass and dickbabs, them actually working together
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 15:29:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29387034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trish_bish_wish/pseuds/Trish_bish_wish
Summary: batman notices Gotham is in trouble but realises it's too late and the one bridge leading out of Gotham get destroyed and the court of owls tries to rebuild Gotham the way they see fit. also batman realises he can't do it alone
Relationships: Barbara Gordon/Dick Grayson, Cassandra Cain/Harper Row, Selina Kyle/Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown/Tim Drake





	1. Fear

For any normal person in this situation; their heart would be racing, body would be sweaty, mind would be everywhere but for Batman, he was done this a million times even got scars to prove it. he was up on a pillar on a corner of a old abandoned warehouse, not visible one bit while waiting for penguin's men. His heart rate steady, his body incredibly still and him thinking over what he was planning to do, where he was planning going to go.

Then penguin's men arrived at the warehouse in a white busted up van as batman took a note of that, going to use that to his advantage. Four men got out of the van all of them armed as batman also took a note of that but was more interested about what was in the van. Batman was going to have to be extra sneaky since it was the middle of the day and there was light coming in from the two opened doors of the warehouse

As the men talked and waited, batman eventually got them to split up by making noise and them picked them off one by one and then tied them up for the police later, not like they would appreciate it. Then he walked over to the back of the van and opened the door being very weary of the fact that there might be more in there and as he opened it there was one final person there holding a gun up, shakingily

"Come on then, I can take you" the young man said with a shaken voice and batman shook his head at him almost making him laugh as he walked up to him and just saw fear in his eyes, good. Then he punched the light out of him then he fell over, dropping his gun

Then batman turned back to finding what he was here for. Then he went to the front seats and looked under them, bingo there it was a locked metal box. Then he scanned it making sure that it had what he wanted and it did so he left the area after calling the police in

When Batman got back to the Wayne manor, his home , he immediately went to the bat-cave which for him felt more like his home. Usually Alfred would be waiting for him there, ready for whatever mischief he had got himself into this time, but he was helping Cassandra feel more at home at the Wayne manor because most nights she was out getting herself into her own mischief and Bruce and Alfred both preferred her to be here so that they could keep an eye on her. Then Bruce took a seat in front of his huge ass monitor , taking off his mask finally getting a breath of fresh air. Then putting the metal box on the work top with a thud

Then he opened up the box with one of his many bat-gadgets. He looked through the box and it was just filled with papers like he had hoped. Bruce looked through them; the first one was about a contract signed by Edward Nigma, Thomas Elliot and Oswald Cobblepot which was just about keeping what was said to them to themselves but it was never stated what, the second paper was about what Thomas gave to them, to keep them from not telling anyone what supposedly he had told them and the last paper was blank

Bruce knew that something was off about the last one so he got his mask, which was next to the box and held it over his face and turned on night vision and looked back at the paper, nothing. So then he putted his mask back down and then sprayed the paper with some sort of liquid which came out of his glove and then read it. and as soon as he finished reading it, fear hut him like a train and then got up and instantly ran up the stairs of the bat-cave. Bruce was familiar with fear but this was a whole other level of it. Even though the fear and worriedness ran over him, he knew what needed to be done

Alfred and Cassandra were playing chess, with them sitting across from each other. Even though Cass knew what piece Alfred was going to use and where he was going to put it, just by the way he looked at it, sometimes he still bested her, which Cass took a mental note of that sometimes knowing everything about the person she was trying to beat wasn't always helpful. Then they quickly took their attention of off the game, as Bruce came running through the large living room

"Is everything alright, sir" Alfred asked because just maybe he was taking a jog through the manor which Alfred thought was weird but he rarely question the things that he did anymore. But then Cass took one look at him and read an unfamiliar emotion on him 

"for now Alfred, just phone Jason, Duke and Kate and tell them to get to Gotham now!" Bruce said in a very serious tone as questions started to arise in Alfred's and Cass's mind

"will do, sir but if you don't mind me asking why" Alfred said leaving the table and walked over to a drawer below the tv which hung on the walk

"don't have time, need to phone some of the others" Bruce said leaving them both in the living room as he ran out of the room with a million questions and scenarios running around in his head

It was late into the night and Bruce laid on his king sized bed staring up at the celling, with his worst fear in his hand wondering what he was going to do with it. He had called Dick and Barbara earlier that day and they were coming into Gotham tomorrow, good. Also earlier that day Alfred got a hold of Jason, Duke and Kate. Yeah it was easy to get Duke to come to Gotham as soon as possible but with Jason and Kate it was harder, Kate insisted on finishing her mission in the army and then hung up on Alfred and Jason well he hated Bruce and didn't want to do anything for him so Alfred convinced him to come for him and his family

With the paper in his hand, he contemplated what he was going to do with it. Then he settled on it, he would keep it in a locked drawer and then burn it when he found the person that had got this information and then burn the rest of the copies. Bruce had a plan if this information ever got out about himself but with this he couldn't go through with it because it wasn't just about him this time

Cass was pacing back and forth in her room, bored and wanting answers. She asked Alfred about what Bruce was rambling on about but he said just to wait but Cass was to impatient for that. Cass liked her head to be clear and usually that was easy for her to have but at this moment she had many questions like why was Bruce so scared was he in danger?, was she in danger?, was Alfred in danger?. Then she just throw on her freshly made black bat suit which she just wore a few times and then jumped out her window, leaving it open and leaving her pijamas on the floor of her room

Cass then just swung through the city, cutting through the cold crisp air, thinking that would maybe clear her head a bit and it did help for a little while. Then she surprisingly got bored of it, seeing Gotham at night was a sight for swore eyes but Cass didn't see it like that instead she saw darkness, even though it was well lighten at night and also saw people scared, even if it was for the better

Cass recognised the street she was in and went to a window of an apartment building and looked in it and saw Stephanie and Tim in bed together sleeping peacefully and Cass just decided to leave them alone since she already made that mistake once so she got of off the ledge of the window and decided a person was what she needed the now and headed for the narrows

Cass knocked on a window, while taking off her mask hoping that had woken Harper up as she saw her breath in the air in front of her. There had been many times where Cass would just sneak in through the window but Harper told her that at any time she can just knock and Harper would get up off of her sleepy ass and let her in so far it worked. Cass waited for a few minutes then Harper came walking to the window wearing an over sized top and some shorts, then she opened up the window instantly getting hut by the cold air making her shiver

"hey, Cass" Harper welcomed taking a step back into her room as Cass climb through the window "you can take the bed the night, I have to catch a train in like an hour anyways doing over time at the clinic has me up at this fucking early in the morning" Harper complained as Cass closed the window with something she wanted to say

"you okay there Cass, you look distracted" Harper asked turning back to face her. Harper knew that sometimes Cass would had some thing on her mind but would have difficultly putting it into words "it's fine if you don't want to say" Harper said trying to give her some sort of reinsurance

"no, it's Bruce" Cass said then sitting on Harper's unfolded bed, thinking that maybe just this once she can put words to her thoughts

"yeah, imagine living with him, with his mug on the couch brooding all day" Harper said while stretching, trying to make Cass smile and it worked for like a solid second but her expression went back to what it was

"He's afraid" Cass said pulling her knees up to her chest and rapped her arms around them. Then Harper imagined Bruce being afraid and that was the second scariest thing that Harper could think of, the first thing was Batman laughing, which was just a terrifying thought to her

"He's probably afraid for a good reason though" Harper said trying to reassure her friend but then Cass just looked at her with narrowed eyes, which had Harper wishing that she could take back what she said "you know what scratch that, maybe you should get some sleep, I need to hop in a shower anyways" Harper said rubbing the back of her neck

Then Cass started to get under the covers for some sort of warmth, this is why she normally went to Steph's place because Steph had really good heating, yeah Cass kinda blamed the coldness on herself because she did open up the window.

"Goodnight" Cass said as Harper was just about to leave, going into another room 

"Night, Cass" Harper said to her then closed the bedroom door over, letting Cass get some rest 

Cullen opened his eyes, waking up from a good nights rest. When he got up and sat on his messy bed stretching he noticed a note on the inside of his bedroom door, probably from Harper. Then he got up and walked over to the note, he didn't bother folding his bed, he held the note in his hand and he guessed right it was from Harper, which was weird since never before did she leave a note and then he started to read it

'Hey Cullen it's Harper, just wanted to let you know that Cassandra might be in the apartment so just don't be alarmed if you hear someone else in the apartment, also there's no more cereal left I'll get more after I'm done working, luv you'. After Cullen read that he throw it done on his bed stand behind him and thought to himself that couldn't she had just sent a text but he still appreciated her telling him

When Cullen walked out of his room still wearing his star wars pijamas, he saw Cass standing on one of the living room chairs in the kitchen looking through higher up cupboards and Cullen just smiled at her "morning, Cass" Cullen said tiredly as Cass turned around with her eyes narrowed then relaxed when she saw who it was

"Cereal" Cass asked then Cullen looked down at what Cass was wearing and it was Harper's oversized top and shorts which looked even bigger on Cass and Cullen just was surprised and had a lot of question going through his head, like did Harper just give her, her clothes? or are they together now?, why didn't Harper tell him?. Then he snapped out of his thoughts as he just saw Cass staring at him waiting for an answer

"Ran out, sadly" Cullen said as Cass just gave him a disappointing look, then she hopped off the chair and putted it back where is was sitting in the living room

Cass and Cullen talked for a little while before she got a call from Bruce making her leave Cullen in the apartment alone. Cullen was fine being in the apartment alone and was glad the conversation didn't last long with Cass because there was this unspoken tension between them and it wasn't good. Cullen might have been young but he remembered Harper going down a dark path when their mother died and the fact that they couldn't find her killer and now that her killer was in their apartment like once a week didn't sit right with Cullen

Then he put on a new podcast which popped up on his phone and sat on one of the more comfier chairs in the living room and listened to it while playing a star wars game on his phone

Alfred entered Cass's empty room and saw that she wasn't in her bed, where he expected her to be and noticed that her window was wide open making the curtains go crazy. "at least the boys had enough manners to create a body pillow and closed the window" Alfred said to himself with a sigh as he walked over to the bed and folded the covers and made it look nice and then went to close the window and fix the curtains

Alfred was surprised that Cass didn't try sneak out earlier and wasn't even disappointed in her and was more impressed that she slept in the manor for a week straight. Then Alfred went back down stairs to tell Bruce that she had snuck out


	2. family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot of dialogue in this, just to let you know  
> Sorry if there is any mistakes in this I do try and read over it a bunch of times

Steph and Tim waited in the large, modern looking kitchen of the Wayne Manor with Alfred who was looking in the fridge for something he could set out for snacks. Alfred didn't know why Bruce wanted everyone to meet up here, he just knew that it was important and was glad that he could see most of then together again. Usually Tim and Steph would already know what was going on at this point but this time they were both sitting on the edge of their seats waiting quite patiently 

"How does kitkats and fudge sound" Alfred asked the two teenagers sitting at the kitchen counter as they both just squinted at him

"Who the hell keeps kitkats in the fridge" Tim said

"Language, Timothy"

"Sorry Alfred, what he meant to say was, you live in a billionaire's house and you can have as many cookies tins as you want, but you keep kitkats in the fridge" Steph said still giving him a weird look

"Bruce likes them cold" Alfred said with the fridge still open and with a full pack of kitkats in one of his hands

"Of course he does" Steph said

"So is that a yes or no on the kitkats and fudge" Alfred asked as there was a noise of someone opening the manor door and so Tim hoped off his seat to go see who it was 

"Yeah, Alfred I think everyone would love them" Steph said

"Watch your legs" Dick said as he pushed Barbara through the door (who was in a wheel chair) he tried to keep the door open with one hand and tried to push her through with the other as two suitcases waited outside behind him; one of them was blue and the other was orange 

"Well even if my legs where in the way, I can't move them can I" Barbara said with a grain of salt and Dick wished that he could take that back still trying to get her through the door. Then Tim saw him struggling and rushed over and held the door open for them

"Thanks, Tim" Barbara said as they were now in the huge open area of the manor and out of the cold

"Do I not get a thanks" Dick said like he was actually offended, then he letted go of the wheel chair and went to go get the suitcases

"After what you said ha no"

"Oh, what did he say this time" Tim asked as he closed the door over after Dick entered with the heavy suitcases

"He said 'watch your legs' as if I could move them out of the way" Barbara said as Tim just tried not to laugh at the dumbness of his brother

"Right, I didn't mean to say it okay, I'm sorry" Dick said defending himself as he knew Barbara would never let him live this down. Then Alfred come out from the kitchen

"Hey, master Richard let me take them from you" Alfred said as he took the suitcases out from Dick's hands "Usual rooms" Alfred asked as he nodded up to the stairs

"Yeah, thanks Alfred" Dick said as Alfred carefully took the suitcases up the stairs 

"Hey, Babs" Steph said excitedly as she ran up to her and kneeled down and hugged her tightly

"Are we supposed to hug too or just stand her all brotherly like" Tim said as Dick just headed into the kitchen to get food, it had been a long trip here

"I missed you, like a lot more than I expected I would" Steph said as she let go of her and got up off of the floor

"Yeah, I can tell, wanna catch up over lunch" Barbara asked as Steph nodded, then the three headed to the kitchen with Barbara putting her arms to use and rolling herself to the kitchen. When they entered the kitchen they saw Dick and Damian talking then turning their attention to them as they entered

"Wait, you can push yourself on that thing" Dick said surprised as he gestured the can of orange juice in his hand to Barbara

"Of course I can"

"Then why did you make me push you here" Dick said as Tim made himself coffee because it was too early for this and as Steph decided to make conversation with Damian

"Wanted to watch you struggle and it was quite entertaining" Barbara said as there was clearly some sort of unresolved tension between them and they both knew that but they weren't going to sort it out anytime soon

"What are you doing here" Steph said as she walked up to Damian who was sitting on one of the kitchen counters with some grapes in his hand

"Oh I don't know if you knew but this is a family meeting thing" Damian said as he throw a grape in the air and got caught it in his month

"Yeah I knew but I didn't think that included you since your no longer looking for Batman's approval" Steph said as the sound of Tim's coffee machine filled the room

"I could say the same about you" Damian said as they both gave each other a look like they were going to start fighting right then and there but thankfully they didn't

An hour later and they all found themselves sitting in the living room which looked very old but polished just like the rest of the manor. Dick, Tim, Duke and Damian all sat on one of the long brown couches, shoulder to shoulder and Stephanie, Helena and Luke sat across from them on another brown couch while Barbara parked her wheel chair beside Steph who was sitting at the end of the couch. They left the big brown chair empty for Bruce as if he was the man of the house but they all knew that the actual man of the house is Alfred. Also they all knew that Jason was not going to appear, though they thought that Kate and Cass would be here by now, they all expected that Kate would be the first one to arrive.

They sat and talked for awhile wondering why he needed them to be here. Helena wondered a lot on why she was even here since usually if Bruce needed her, he would usually call at the last minute to help and she was about get up and walk out but then heard Bruce finally enter

Alfred took Bruce's coat of off him and hung it up on a empty coat hanger which was next to the front door and then he walked into the living room, noticing that almost everyone was there. Alfred just stood at the door looking over them like he has always done and Bruce took the seat that was kept for him, getting ready to tell them why there were all here with a few bits of paper in his hands. The chatter among them quieted down as Bruce started to speak

"I know that this is unlike me, to sit you all down like this but this is beyond important" Bruce explained and that caught everyone's attention but a few where spectacle "Right, there is this contact signed by Hush,The Penguin and The Riddler and by the way they have worded it, this is not just between them and I need extra eyes out there to see what's going on" Bruce said knowing full well that he was half lying to them which he hated but it was only for now as Bruce handed out copies of the contact to them and they all read it

As Helena got half way through it she shook her head and putted it down and got up and started to walk out the room

"Hey, when I say I need extra eyes on this, that also includes you, Helena" Bruce said standing up, hoping that she wouldn't just walk away from this. Then she stopped and turned around to face him

"This is bullshit you all know that right" Helena said turning to the rest of them, Dick did question it, usually Bruce gave them more than this "This is probably over something petty like a plot of land or something" Helena said as they all knew that contracts got signed all the time in Gotham

"It isn't"

"How do you know that, then" Helena said crossing her arms as Dick looked over at Bruce and he could read clearly that Bruce wasn't telling them the whole truth but it was enough for Dick to still watch out for his back, not like he needed it though

"Because I just know" Bruce said very much sure of himself but deciding to take his tone down a bit "And I would appreciate it if you trusted me"

"Oh you playing the 'I'm batman and your just all my sidekicks' card, now" Helena said as they were all taken back by that. Then they all heard the front door open as Helena walked out of the room and to the front door passing by Cassandra who had just walked in late

It was a while later and most of them were still in the manor, catching up with each other. Bruce knew that the rest of them believed him, yeah he noticed questionable looks coming from Dick and Damian and of course the people who knew him the best would question him but he knew that they would question him but would still have his back, unlike some people

As Cass walked in, wondering why everyone was here and why Helena just stormed out the way she did. Then Steph had to explain to Cass why they were here and showed her the contract which she didn't understand one bit. After Steph had explained to her, making sure that she fully understood it, Cass questioned it as it still didn't match up with the fear that radiated of off Bruce yesterday

Bruce was taking to Duke, who really wanted to help anyway that he could and so Bruce gave him a mission which he was satisfied with. Then as Duke walked away Bruce looked around feeling the atmosphere change slightly as Selina climbed through one of the many old fashion looking windows in the living room. Then she strolled over to Bruce

"Oh, did I miss another family gathering" Selina said as she was now standing directly in front of Bruce

"Selina" Bruce said in a very serious tone, which Selina didn't hear often. Bruce said it in a serious tone to get all of Selina's attention which was hard most of the time

"What's with the serious voice, it's kinda creeping me out" Selina asked as she gently grazed over Bruce's hand which had a glass of water in it and she took it of off him and took a drink of it

"Just promise you'll stay in Gotham" Bruce said as Selina gave him a look

"You know I'm not some billionaire like you Bruce, I can't just leave even if I wanted to"

Then Bruce took her wrist and looked directly in her very green eyes "I'm aware of that Selina but just stay okay" Bruce said in a very caring tone and Selina knew what he was really asking from her 

"No need to worry about me, sweetheart" Selina said then giving him a kiss on the cheek as she handed back the glass of water

Jason Todd found himself punching the shit out of some criminals in an alley in Gotham, wondering why he was here. Jason wasn't going to come yet he found himself here.

He gave the man a punch while two other unconscious men laid behind him

Even when Alfred said to come for the family, he didn't want to come because before this family he was alive and not broken and before this family he wasn't Batman's greatest failure

He gave the man another punch while he started to loose consciousness

He thought to himself that maybe he came for Gotham, even though he called it hell on earth. Gotham was his home, even though it never really felt homely he was still willing to protect it

He gave the man another punch while he started to go limp

"I think that guy has had enough" someone said as Jason looked to his right and saw Robin standing there leaning against the wall with his arms folded. Then Jason looked back at the man that he had up against the wall as his face was all bloody and the blood started to crawl down his neck

"Yeah, you're probably right" Jason said letting go of the man as he fell into one of the many puddles in the alley way "So what does bat-dad want this time"

"Well Jason, I'm always right" Damian said not bothering to call him red hood even though he was in his suit. Then it went silent for a bit, then Damian pulled out the crumbled contract from under his cape and then explained to Jason what was going on and Jason believed that there was much more going on

"Don't tell me that you actually believe this" Jason said as he handed the paper back

"You know some of us actually trust Batman and you should too"

"That's all the more reason why you shouldn't believe this" Jason said as Damian just gave him a blank look, waiting for him to go on "Oh I know you're not as dumb as you look Damian, like come on he needs extra eyes on this and around Gotham, he's a billionaire for Christ sake why didn't he just get cameras around Gotham to be his eyes, he doesn't need us"

Damian took in what he said and yeah Jason was right but he would never admit it so he just gave Jason a look of understanding

"Your wrong, he needs all of us even if you don't believe in him" Damian said then turning around and headed off as he swung through the city leaving Jason with his thoughts

Harper walked through her apartment door with a bag of shopping in one hand which would had been heavy if she wasn't an ex-vigilante and keys in the other hand. She closed the door back over and locked it and then looked over and saw Cullen laid back on one of the chairs with his face basically glued to his phone screen

"Hey" Harper said as she putted her keys into the pocket of her flannel jacket which she had on over her work clothes and went over to the kitchen to put the stuff away

"Hi" Cullen said not bothering to look up from his phone as Harper got out the boxes of cereal and went on her tip toes to put them in the cupboard

"Did Cass say anything to you this morning about Bruce or anything like that" Harper said still thinking about how Cass looked yesterday as she putted the rest of the stuff away in the kinda empty fridge 

"No, why" Cullen asked not really wanting to chat the now while he played his game

"Oh, no reason" Harper said as she thought to herself as Cullen lost the game he was playing and taking his eyes of off the screen and looked up at Harper across the room who was kneeled down putting things in the fridge

"Well she didn't say anything much but she was wearing your pijamas" Cullen said as Harper ignored the warm feeling she got and got up and closed the fridge door over and faced Cullen

"What can I say Cullen, they are very comfy pijamas" Harper said as she folded up the bag and putted it on the kitchen work top

"Yeah maybe but you do realize that it is freezing cold in this apartment and your pijamas is a over sized top and a pair of shorts" Cullen said as he restarted his game

"Still really comfy though" Harper said walking over to the living room, grabbing the tv remote which was on the tv stand "And you do realize that we have a tv" she said as she removed her brothers legs of off the couch and sat down

"And get this Cullen it actually works" Harper said as she putted on the tv with a fake surprised face

"Funny" Cullen said as he was now more focus on his game again

"I know, I'm hilarious" Harper said kicking off her shoes while she laid back on the couch, getting comfy after a long day of work


End file.
